Urgent! Save Hujia&Jinyan, now!

At 3:00 on the afternoon of December 27, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau placed well-known Beijing-based rights defender Hu Jia under criminal detention on “suspicion of incitement to subvert state power.”

Hu Jia has long contributed great effort to the causes of environmental protection, AIDS prevention and rights protection, and more recently has come under political pressure for his rights defense activities, as a result of which he was forced to discontinue his work in the AIDS field and lost his source of regular income.
Although as a human rights activist and freelance writer Hu Jia has been subjected to long-term house arrest because of his repeated issuing of statements and reports regarding China’s human rights situation and his criticism of the government and its officials, all of his statements and his actions have remained within the boundaries of the rights protected under the PRC Constitution, and have not in any instance constituted an incitement to subvert state power. For this reason, we feel that the Beijing Public Security Bureau’s criminal detention of Hu Jia is unacceptable.

2008 marks the first year that China will act as host to the Olympic Games, and it is also the 30th anniversary of China’s launching of the reform and opening policy. It is at this very time that China’s human rights situation has become a matter of particular concern domestically and in the international community, especially in regards to whether the Chinese government will honor the promises to improve human rights that it made at the time it submitted its bid to host the Olympics, and whether it will produce substantial concrete measures to prove that it has made practical efforts to improve human rights, in order to open the door to social reconciliation within China and dispel misgivings in the international community regarding China’s rise. The best way to seize the critical juncture of the Olympics to promote political advancement and improvement of human rights is for the Chinese government to cherish the tradition of ideological liberation under reform and opening, stand by its promises and implement these promises in practice, be true to the basic tenets of the PRC Constitution in regard to human rights and rule of law, and with sincerity and courage implement the International Covenant on Human Rights and the related international agreements and provisions regarding the protection of human rights, to demonstrate a posture of political enlightenment to the people of China and the world.

We therefore first of all urge the executive authorities to immediately release Hu Jia and restore his personal liberty as a citizen. Until Hu Jia’s freedom is restored, all of his rights in detention must be protected in accordance with law, including his right to physical care, his right to legal appeal, his right to engage legal counsel and his right to receive family visits.

Secondly, we call on everyone within China and in the international community to closely monitor Hu Jia’s physical well-being. Hu Jia suffers from cirrhosis of the liver, and life in custody has taken a heavy toll on his health; long-term custody could result in a health crisis.

We also call on all concerned persons within China and abroad to pay close attention to the predicament of Hu Jia’s family. When Hu Jia lost his freedom, he left behind an infant barely a month old and a family subjected to frequent house arrest. We urge the executive authorities to remove all restriction on the movements of Hu Jia’s family members, and to allow his wife and child to resume a normal living environment.
As the Beijing Olympics approach, whether it is from the angle of universal concepts of morality and justice and China’s own laws, or from the angle of basic humanitarianism, the Chinese government has no reason to disregard justice, trample the law, abandon its promises, and violate human decency by depriving Mr. Hu Jia of his basic human rights and limiting the basic rights of his family members.

Finally, we call on the governments of the free world, international human rights organizations and international public opinion to take an interest in the fate of Mr. Hu Jia, and at the same time we urge the Chinese government to return to the path of respecting human rights, abiding by law and honoring its promises.

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1) No anonymous signings
2) Sign with real name, or if using a pen name, include your real name after it
3) Following the name, provide your location and occupation
4) Send your name to the following email addresses: forhujia@gmail.com； forhujia2008@gmail.com
Translation by China Information Center